The 5/24 rule is a Chase specific rule regarding approval on some of their cards. If you have opened 5 or more new credit card accounts from any bank over the last 24 months they will auto deny you know matter how good your credit, history with Chase, income, score etc. Therefore, the rule of thumb when starting out is to get the Chase cards that are subject to the 5/24 rule first.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) card your 100,000 Ultimate Rewards (UR) points are worth .0125 per point ($1,250) if you were to use them to purchase travel through the Chase UR portal. Alternatively, you could transfer your points 1:1 to the following airlines and hotels United, SouthWest, British Airways, Singapore, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Air France, Korean, Virgin Atlantic, Marriott, Hyatt, Ritz Carlton and IHG.
I believe all of us here also pay balances in full each month as well. Paying interest would negate the value of points earned.
The fastest way to earn the points is through the sign up bonuses. Some will cancel and churn their cards if they have no use for them beyond the sign up bonus. Some will keep the cards if the value of benefits and points earning negate the fee. I started this hobby in 2012 and my credit score was in the high 600's and low 700's back then. I apply for and cancel between 5 - 8 cards per year and my score has not dipped below 800 for a few years. It goes up and down between 805 - 840. So yes, it does affect your credit but not negatively. You always take a small hit with a new application but that falls off within a year and the new line of credit lowers your credit utilization percentage which in turn raises your credit score. I would advise against cancelling older cards especially if they are no fee cards. Closing older cards will affect your average age of credit negatively.
Earning points beyond the sign up bonus of a new card involves maximizing spending categories. This is where you can earn more points by spending in a specific category depending on the card. For example, your CSP card earns 2 UR points per $ on dining and travel. You should always use that card when paying for anything in those categories. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve which earns 3 UR points in the same categories and those UR points are worth .15 in the Chase UR portal. One of my strategies is to also use my Chase Freedom no fee card which has rotating quarterly spending categories that earn 5x UR points up to $1500 in spending. On their own, those Freedom point cannot be transferred to airlines and hotels and they are only worth .01 for a statement credit. So, I transfer those 7500 UR points that I earned on my Freedom card to my CSR account and they are worth more and I can use them to transfer directly to airlines.
This hobby has allowed me to mitigate my travel expenses and I definitely travel a lot more now. Of the regular posters here, I'm in the "use miles to get lie flat seats in first class on international flights" camp. There is absolutely no way I could possibly travel as much as I do and in first class flights if I did not use multiple cards and maximize spending categories and utilize shopping portals. DH and I go through a lot of points every year. I'll give you a list of our vacations over 2017 and how many miles or points we needed o secure our flights:
January -
Adventures by Disney Winter in Wyoming trip (United first class 200,000 miles)
February - London for the weekend to see Harry Potter & the Cursed Child play (British Airways first class 400,000 miles, 100,000 Club Carlson points for hotel stay)
March - Aulani in Hawaii in first class (American Airlines 74k miles, 90k Citi Thank You points)
June/July - Scotland for a long weekend to see the Fairy Pools "slumming" it in business (British Airways 250,000 miles)
July - San Francisco to see Hamilton first class (American Airlines gift cards from purchases that triggered annual airline credit on credit cards and 35,000 Amex membership rewards points, 24k SPG points to stay at Westin)
August - Adventure by Disney Italy trip (British Airways 200,000 miles and earned travel together ticket with credit card)
November - flew to Iceland in first class (Delta paid with 380,000 UR points, stayed at Hilton forgot how many points but got a point free night too due to length of stay)
So that is over 1.7 million points and miles that DH and I blew through just this past year. We are in 2 player mode when it comes to applications and bonus category earnings but it takes multiple cards to maximize the bonus categories, give us options and maintain 2 - 3 million points and miles. Hope this helps.[/QUOTE